Vancouver chefs dish about what makes our restaurant scene so great...and so infuriating.

People who cook and run restaurants know a thing or two about good food. So Georgia Straight staffers called up more than 50 industry insiders and asked them what they think are the best places to get a good meal in this town.

The best restaurants in Vancouver according to Georgia Straight Readers.

It was like herding cats to get this year’s panel together to judge the Golden Plates critics’ awards, but eventually we did.

This year's judges: wine and food authority Sid Cross; Iron Chef Rob Feenie; food stylist and journalist Nathan Fong; Jurgen Gothe, no introduction needed; fellow scribes Duncan Holmes and Judith Lane; Wine Access editor Jim Tobler; and writer, author, and former restaurateur Stephen Wong.

Thanks to the recent surge in the number of high-quality Shanghainese restaurants in the Lower Mainland, patrons can get a little promiscuous with their dalliances.

Today we gravitate to the easiness, the wallet-friendly prices, and the good food at spots like Bistrot Bistro and Bin 941, but it’s still a treat to tuck into simple, decent eats in the unpretentious, timeworn surroundings of diners.

In recent years, a few restaurants have attempted to lure in the kiddie set. But, realistically, true toddler-friendliness has a way to go in this city.

At it's core, family-style cooking is simple, unpretentious, tasty food. And that’s what Feenie predicts we’ll soon be eating in restaurants.

Our critics report back on the new spots that moved them, the food that surprised, and the best places for value among the bounty that is Vancouver's restaurant scene.

Overall 1. Lumiere Restaurant2551 West Broadway, 604-739-8185

Thai 1. Thai House Restaurant Various locations

Continental 1. The William Tell Restaurant 765 Beatty Street, 604-688-3504

The takeout menu at Kwong Chow Congee & Noodle House on Main Street-numbered for your convenience-tops out at 288 dishes. They could probably have gone on, but 288 is an auspicious number (it means "double prosperity"), so they stopped there, presumably for luck.